Historical Costuming with Kids: 18th Century

I wanted to pop in with an update on costuming with the kids.

My goal was to create a mid-18th century working class look, with all the visible stitching done by hand. For the sake of time, all the inner long seams were machine sewn, then hand finished.

Because this is supposed to be fun, I didn’t want to go down a rabbit hole of ideas about how the costumes “should” look and or get too neurotic about what was Historically Accurate.

Here’s what we have so far:Both girls have a basic shift for the bottom layer. I made these for them prior to our Victorian stroll, and since then they’ve used them as nightgowns. (You can see the red ribbon on Three’s shift on the left, otherwise it’s an invisible layer, but it helps keep the other layers clean, and historically, was the one that was washed most frequently).

I made Five’s shift out of a pillowcase – I cut little holes on the sides to add gussets and sleeves, covered a weird stain with a cute patch, cut a hole for her head, hand finished all the openings, and added a ribbon for a drawstring. On top of the shift goes a quilted petticoat. Since this was a stash busting project, I used kantha fabric I had on hand, from two twin-sized bedspreads I purchased on eBay months ago. Like I noted in a previous post, kantha cloth is made of layers of India cotton quilted together with a running stitch. India cotton is a historically accurate choice, but kantha cloth may not have been.

The layers of cloth add floof to the skirts, and both girls liked the colors of their quilted petticoats, which work as stand-alone skirts for costuming or modern wear. Next layer is an outer petticoat. In Three’s case, she has a bum pad under there, but Five wanted nothing to do with bum pads so we skipped it.When I took the photos, I still hadn’t finished the Five’s outer petticoat, so she is wearing her quilted kantha petticoat alone. (It’s made from the same fabric I used for my very first costuming project, 18th century jumps).

Next comes a neckerchief, followed by a bedgown. I used different colorways of the same cotton ikat for all three bedgowns I’ve made so far.

On both girls’ bedgowns, I mistakenly made the side pleats release lower than their waist. This made them drape a little weird and they were harder to wrap closed. I realized early with the little bedgown, so it’s already fixed. The other one got altered after we took these photos. I have to retrain my mental waistline for making historical clothes.I drafted Five’s pinner apron, inspired by a Dutch painting. It’s made from one of her dad’s old dress shirts. The bib of the apron is attached to her bedgown with two little straight pins. The fabric was an extremely densely woven cotton and difficult to sew by hand. I had to piece two corners because I didn’t have a big enough piece of fabric for the skirt. I successfully pattern matched the plaid, which was very satisfying. Also satisfying: the color play with the purples, blues, and whites in her costume.

Three’s red apron is made with shot cotton and hand sewn, using the same method I used for my own white linen apron, from the American Duchess Guide book. Last addition was a head covering. I have a large supply of caps from the 17th and 18th century because they are small and easy to make and quite soothing with their little details and white on white. I think I’ve made six since quarantine began.

When Three saw the 17th c. Reconstructing History coif I’d made, she wanted to wear it. It’s actually two pieces, a triangle piece that goes across the forehead, and the coif that goes on top. Unlike me, she has enough hair for a bun to wrap the drawstring around to hold the cap on. (When I wear it, I use my kids’ old socks rolled into a fat donut.)

For Five, we used a hand sewn neckerchief as a headwrap, and sometimes, simple is best, because she looked gorgeous.